Leather Coral

[bhanson]

I have some leather coral (Sarcophyton sp.) dont know exactly what type of leather coral it is. They came from the LFS as two stalks on one piece of rock. Over the past two weeks they have grown bigger. Should I seperate them if so how should I move one to another rock.

Thanks

 

[bluetang1]

Now i'm no pro but, recently i twice did what you are wanting to do and was very successful. I took a new, clean and very sharp exacto knife and cut the leather coral straight across the base, leaving about an inch left on the rock. This small peice left on the rock, should grow a new arm of leather for later cuttings. Now the leather coral will imediatly and basically drain out all the fluids in it. I was a little worried but it didnt seem to be a problem in retrospect. I then took the severed leather, a elastic band and streached the band over the rock pinning the base of the coral down. Now i've done this twice and found the closer to the bottom of the leather the better the results were. try to get the fleshy/freshly cut side in contact with the rock.unlike the side of the stock. Place your cutting and the rock back in place and give it a good few days and the coral should be coming back. make sure you wait those few days before trying to remove the elastic band. good luck

 

[Ben1]

A better way to seperate two leahers on the same rock is just to split the rock in two right between where the two individual heads meet. This way they are already attached and can be placed any where. Certain leathers can get very large, when I had my leather that was over a foot across I fraged it atleast twice a week by cutting pieces off the edge of the cap. I would then put the pieces on the sand in a low current area for a few days. Once they attached to some grain of sand, usually 3 days I would glue them on a new rock using super glue gel.

I ended up cutting it in two right through the center and chopping one half off and attached in by just sticking the stump inbetween two rocks and traded away the second piece already attached for a bucket full od frags.

You could also try the toothpick method similar to what bhanson, Instead you use the toothpick to spear through the base of the frag and the rubberbands to hold the toothpick on the rock. This way the rubberband doesnt cut through the coral and corals that can expand and contract wont slip away. It is best in both methods (with or without the toothpick) to put the frag into a groove so the pressure from the band or toothpick wont cut through the tissue.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

Or you could leave them together- I think it looks cool like that.